Ariana Grande, ‘thank u, next’ review

Last year’s Sweetener made a little room for vintage Grande heartbreak jams, but for the most part it was a musically diverse statement of Grande’s confidence. thank u, next – its immediate follow-up – is more unsettled.

She vacillates wildly between wanting more space (NASA) and less (needy), craving stability (imagine) and throwing it away (bloodline). That it’s messy and confused makes sense; thank u, next is ultimately Grande’s journey to find herself again following two of the biggest losses in her life, but it’s telling that it ends with the three singles.

They close it out with Grande finding herself again and moving on, a cathartic end to a turbulent arc.